Candidates for the House of Representatives and Senate in the Federal election were surveyed, as in the Australian Candidate Study, 1987. In 1990, however, the survey was restricted to candidates for the major parties - Labor, Liberal, National and Australian Democrat - plus candidates standing on green and environmental platforms; other minor party candidates and independents were not included.
The study examines the political issues prevalent in the election, replicating some of the questions on the economy, the environment, social issues and industrial policy which were asked in the Australian Election Study, 1990 (SSDA No. 570). These include candidates' attitudes to particular economic issues, attitudes to the protection of the environment and to environmental issues in general. A section on social policy includes questions on around 30 contemporary social and moral issues, including abortion, Aboriginal rights, pornography, health care, and many others. A section on women focuses on women's issues, support for women, attitudes to women and attitudes to women as election candidates. This will enable extensive replication to be conducted focusing on mass-elite linkages, both across the electorate as a whole, and disaggregated by party.
In addition, the survey asks questions relating to political background, including electoral history, party political involvement and membership of community organisations, together with questions on pre-selection, such as the support which the candidate was given to gain nomination. A section on campaigning asks for candidates' perceptions of the personal attributes and experience which they think are required to make a successful candidate and MP, and the activities that the candidate engaged in during their campaign.
Data collected on social and political characteristics of candidates, plus certain social and political features of the electoral divisions in which they stood (for House of Representatives candidates only), has been linked to the candidates' questionnaires. However, due to confidentiality provisions, only subsets of these variables can be provided for analysis. The variables are: house contested; state; electoral division*; party affiliation; sex; occupation; whether elected or not; first preference vote in 1990 election*; position on ballot; incumbency status; years in parliament; ministerial status; number of candidates on ballot; median income in electoral division*; urban-rural location of electoral division*; two-party preferred vote in 1987 in the electoral division; two-party preferred vote in 1990 in the electoral division*.
*for House of Representatives candidates only

'Viable' parliamentary candidates for 24 March 1990 Australian federal election. Because of the large number of independent and minor party candidates who stood in the election, the survey is not based on a sample in any conventional sense. To be eligible for selection, candidates had to meet one or more of the following criteria: 1. Endorsed candidates of the Labor Party, Liberal Party, National Party, Australian Democrats, and the Nuclear Disarmament Party
2. Candidates with labels explicitly identifying them as environmentally concerned (except the Australian Green Party )
3. Candidates who were endorsed by significant Green pressure groups
4. Other candidates who it was anticipated would obtain more than 10 per cent of the first preference vote

Date of Collection

Start date - Data Collection:

End date - Data Collection:

Time Period

Time Period - Start:

Time Period - End:

Geographic Coverage

National

Geographic Unit

Postcode

Methodology

Content

Sampling Procedure

no sampling (total universe)

Data Kind

survey
coded documents

Data Access

Content

Deposit Information

Content

Depositor

Dr Roger G. Jones Data Archives Research School of Social Sciences The Australian National University G.P.O. Box 4 Canberra A.C.T. 2601

Deposit Date

1990-06-21

Other

Content

Unit of Analysis

Individual

Mode of Data Collection

self-completion (mail out, mail back)
The survey was mailed to the candidates on 3 April 1990, ten days after the election. The envelopes contained an individually-addressed and signed letter explaining the purposes of the study and a guarantee of confidentiality, the questionnaire, and a return postage-paid envelope. In addition, a letter of introduction from party leaders was included in the mailings to Labor Party and Australian Democrat candidates. Approximately one week later a thank you/reminder postcard was mailed to all those included in the survey.
A follow-up of all survey respondents who had not returned questionnaires or who had not indicated that they wished to be excluded from the study was conducted six weeks after the election. The follow-up envelope consisted of an individually-addressed and signed letter re-stating the purposes of the study and emphasising confidentiality, another questionnaire, and a return post-paid envelope.

Comment

Candidates for the House of Representatives and Senate in the Federal election were surveyed, as in the Australian Candidate Study, 1987. In 1990, however, the survey was restricted to candidates for the major parties - Labor, Liberal, National and Australian Democrat - plus candidates standing on green and environmental platforms; other minor party candidates and independents were not included.
The study examines the political issues prevalent in the election, replicating some of the questions on the economy, the environment, social issues and industrial policy which were asked in the Australian Election Study, 1990 (SSDA No. 570). These include candidates' attitudes to particular economic issues, attitudes to the protection of the environment and to environmental issues in general. A section on social policy includes questions on around 30 contemporary social and moral issues, including abortion, Aboriginal rights, pornography, health care, and many others. A section on women focuses on women's issues, support for women, attitudes to women and attitudes to women as election candidates. This will enable extensive replication to be conducted focusing on mass-elite linkages, both across the electorate as a whole, and disaggregated by party.
In addition, the survey asks questions relating to political background, including electoral history, party political involvement and membership of community organisations, together with questions on pre-selection, such as the support which the candidate was given to gain nomination. A section on campaigning asks for candidates' perceptions of the personal attributes and experience which they think are required to make a successful candidate and MP, and the activities that the candidate engaged in during their campaign.
Data collected on social and political characteristics of candidates, plus certain social and political features of the electoral divisions in which they stood (for House of Representatives candidates only), has been linked to the candidates' questionnaires. However, due to confidentiality provisions, only subsets of these variables can be provided for analysis. The variables are: house contested; state; electoral division*; party affiliation; sex; occupation; whether elected or not; first preference vote in 1990 election*; position on ballot; incumbency status; years in parliament; ministerial status; number of candidates on ballot; median income in electoral division*; urban-rural location of electoral division*; two-party preferred vote in 1987 in the electoral division; two-party preferred vote in 1990 in the electoral division*.
*for House of Representatives candidates only